Poor man, he's bored.

My wife and I just couldn't muster the energy and will to watch a movie
about a man who has everything (wife, daughter and job), and is in a
rather enviable position overall. And his problem is... well, we
couldn't figure out. He's bored? Doesn't "like his life"? So, let's
make a movie about it, shall we?

The premise to this movie is so preposterous, that his audience may be
left completely unsympathetic to the main character, or even less
sympathetic to the whole enterprise that made the movie possible.

The saving grace of this movie is the good directing - there's a pinch
of comedy to give a genre direction to the movie, but apart that, the
characters seem rather genuine. Sadly, the whole plot is stillborn and
worthless.

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

Not worth the frustration and boredom

I was really looking forward to "Multiple Sarcasms". With a story about
a man, basically at a mid-life crisis, who is looking for happiness in
writing and in films, I thought I could really relate. But for a film
about playwriting at its heart, it's rather poorly written. Many scenes
telling us things that we already know. The first third of the film was
introducing us to the main characters, over and over again. But I got
everything I needed to know about the characters in the first scene so
the rest just became a lesson in boredom.

It was supposed to be about Gabriel discovering that his happiness is
rooted in writing, but then out of nowhere the main story became about
crossing the line of infidelity. Not writing at all. Boredom, crossing
into confusion just becomes frustration. Even with the many underrated
actors, "Multiple Sarcasms" is not worth the frustration and boredom.

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9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

To the point

This film examines an interesting aspect of life...friendship between
men and women without sex or romance. It's something I personally
relate to because my best friends are women (and most of them are also
close friends of my wife.) It also is a very well written and well
directed film. The lines are good and they are well delivered in a very
natural and understated manner, almost as though the scenes were
improv. The concept of the play within a play, certainly not an
original dramatic device, is, nevertheless, done effectively. This
wasn't a big buck film, either in its production costs or its box
office. But I suspect the people who made it are motivated more by
artistry than by avarice.

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8 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

A Common American Ailment

Another reviewer here characterized the whole premise of the movie as
"preposterous". Obviously, that person has not known many people of
wealth and privilege. I have personally known many people of great
"success" and wealth who were not very happy. They may have fulfilled
the "American Dream" of job, family, etc... but they did NOT feel
contentment, fulfillment or joy. One recently committed suicide... a
very well-off and talented guy.

So, it's not "preposterous" at all. It's quite common and very
understandable since our values here are based almost completely on
money -- which is only a tool and you can't purchase happiness, only
distraction.

Angst & frustration for the viewer

You have to make yourself watch this flick! The promotional
description/summary here on IMDb certainly makes this story sound far
more interesting than this movie can ever be.

It's the usual NYC setting with beautiful people in successful jobs but
- oh my - the waters run deep and dark and the characters are way too
introspective. Still wanting to be young and free Gabriel suddenly
realizes he's in a stale marriage and has a child and he wants to be a
writer. So he looks and acts like an old wino through 93% of the movie.

This type of story has 'been so done'! This flick starts sinking within
the first 15 to 20 minutes - whenever you suddenly realize where this
story is going. And there's the happy happy ending.

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9 out of 17 people found the following review useful:

Maybe it is love that makes us strange.

I just watched this movie and i must admit it wasn't brilliant but
better then a lot of other movies.

The plot starts with a family seemingly happy but as you have already
guessed nothing is as it seems. The guy is a thinker while the wife is
not so much. Then blah blah blah and the guy writes a sarcastic play,
leaves his wife, and finally gets together with his true soul mate.

Now a response to the previous review: A guy criticized that the plot
makes us completely unsympathetic to the main character due to his
ungratefulness to what he has(the happy family stuff). I agree that you
shouldn't not leave a marriage in ruin like that but in order to
achieve that you need to be on the same level of understanding with
your partner. That doesn't mean that you always agree but it means he
at least gets your "multiple sarcasm". Im not talking about
intelligence here well maybe I am so what some people get it some don't
that is just how it is.

Anyway not a bad movie but i think it dint reach the right audience.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

An enigmatic expression of the complexities of love and friendship

A seemingly happy man with an unscratchable itch blunders in to a
solution that is neither heroic nor mundane but nevertheless seems
satisfyingly right in a very ordinary way. Without quite knowing what
he knows that he has been battling with a conundrum his whole life, to
find a solution he turns away from his life and decides he must write a
play. He then finds himself describing his conundrum and the movie
unfolds like a detective novel with odd clues dropped from time to
time, as he traces the root of what's been bothering him. He finishes
his play and better yet its production is financially rewarding, he's a
made man and he does not have the itch any more. I gave the film an
eight because even though the dialogue stank in parts, the Director
still manages to convey a voice and evoke empathy and a sense of shared
human experience.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Very promising start, but loses its way

What this film was really missing was a real turnout to explain a
playwright's boredom with all the good things he couldn't enjoy. Or a
real, Allen-like neurosis (but that is overdone), perhaps of the psycho
kind.

Unfortunately, the intelligent dialog and the good cast can't really
make it memorable. From the way the story is told, the viewer becomes
unsympathetic towards the main character (and it's nothing wrong with
that), but the latter's motivation is thin at best, and that's wrong
and makes him a spoiled whining nerd. Which most real writers and real
men aren't - hopefully.

Well, it's disappointing, but it still might win an award, the Have a
Great Cast and Dialog and Still Ruin the Film award.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

The Journey Within

Perfect example of a movie that should not be judged by the average
rating it receives from viewers. People are apparently terrified of
exploring their feelings, their decisions, or their lives if they rated
this 4.6 out of 10. With no qualifiers, I give it a 10. Where & when
can one explore one's self? Certainly not in schooljails where the
teachers themselves are unlikely to have ever gotten to know
themselves. Authenticity, the ability to be oneself, is totally lacking
in this most vital institution where kids are supposed to get prepared
for life. Here is a movie to help focus on the aspect of our lives that
is left out of the curriculum--to question one's choices, to find
meaning, to discover love, to learn from mistakes. Most people will not
bother but will continue making the same mistakes over & over again.
Bravo to the producers & everyone connected with this film for giving
us something way above the standard fare. EXCEPTIONAL!

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3 out of 7 people found the following review useful:

A Brave Film About the Creative Process

Multiple Sarcasms Timothy Hutton gives a great performance of a man who
is tired of his work and married life, and is driven to work out who he
is by writing a play. It is a process that is riddled with angst, his
creative self attempting to emerge in spite of the inevitable
obstacles, in the form of his wife, who he fears "doesn't get him," to
his guilt about striking out for himself in an authentic way as
possibly harming his gifted and appealing daughter, his job as an
architect, which ceases to satisfy him creatively. His unkempt, "just
gotten out of bed" look, complete with five o'clock shadow, hair with a
will of its own and rumpled clothes give a physical presence to his
discontent and yearning for something more. At times, there are
surrealistic scenes, reminiscent of "The Singing Detective," (which are
inspired, and for me some of the best moments of the film) where he
re-writes interactions that had painful ramifications for him, e.g. his
argument with his wife while they were visiting her family for
Christmas, and his well-intentioned but maladroit attempt to come to
his daughter's aid during a crisis at school. The other actors give
natural and resonant performances, including Dana Delany with her cool,
porcelain sadness as his wife, and Mira Sorvino, the wise, funny and
vulnerable best friend (an iconic representation of every man's
"anima"), India Ennenga as the precocious and lovable daughter, and
Mario Van Peebles, playing against his usual type, as his gay friend
(he gives a monologue that is so effective that it would be a good
audition piece). Stockard Channing was perfectly cast as the agent,
industry and worldly-wise, funny and charming. It is an ode to
Manhattan as well as a right-brained, intuitive look into a man's
struggle to become his authentic self through self-expression. At times
he appears childlike, selfish, depressed, even crazed, and yet he is
doing what he has to do to make life bearable. This brave gem of a film
presents a classic view of the struggle of a creative person, highs,
lows, absurdity and revelations. The images captured by his daughter
and superimposed with artfully free cursive reminded me of some of the
work of Corita Kent, projected into a new medium, for a new century.
The music was well-chosen, beautifully performed, fit the narrative and
emphasized the emotion and themes.